The invention relates to a sensor arrangement for ascertaining physical properties of liquids.
By way of example, sensor arrangements with so-called acoustical SAW or surface wave components (SAW=surface acoustic wave) are used as sensors for the most various physical properties in liquids. One important field in this respect is measuring electrical variables, such as the dielectric constant and/or the conductivity, measuring mechanical variables, such as the density and/or the viscosity, and the investigation of chemical properties, such as the presence of special substances in liquids.
In a known sensor arrangement, the starting point is a measurement principle that is described for instance in the paper entitled xe2x80x9cA study of Love-wave acoustic sensorsxe2x80x9d, by J. Du, G. L. Hardling, P. R. Ogilvy and M. Lake, in the professional journal Sensors and Actuators A56 (1996), pages 211-219. With the measurement structure described here, a sensor has been achieved in which horizontally polarized acoustic shear waves are used, so-called leaky waves or surface skimming bulk waves (SSBWs), or Love-waves. These acoustical wave modes are generated and also detected with so-called interdigital transducers, known per se from the aforementioned prior art, so that from the propagation behavior over a propagation or measurement path, the desired sensor signal can be obtained.
Depending on the measurement construction required, various materials and arrangements for the sensor elements are used, such as a certain substrate material for the sensor elements, a predetermined wave propagation direction, optionally also a special layer construction on the substrate material, and a certain arrangement of the sensor elements, constructed as electro-acoustical converters. One or more of the aforementioned acoustic wave modes, known per se, occur here; they differ in terms of a possible measurement sensitivity, propagation speed, an acoustoelectrical coupling factor, and a vulnerability to shear effects, and so forth and thus determine the suitability of a special sensor type for a specific measurement task.
The above-described acoustic wave modes, known from the prior art, as noted involve horizontally polarized acoustic shear waves, in which a wave propagating along the surface of the substrate on which the electro-acoustical converters are located is utilized.
Besides the measurement sensitivity when SAW components are used as sensors, especially for investigating liquids, the influence of the temperature on the measurement outcome is also especially significant; for instance in use in liquid media, of the kind employed in the automotive field (such as oils, fuels, brake fluid, and so forth), a relatively wide temperature range affecting the measurement outcome occurs, ranging between xe2x88x9240xc2x0 C. and +150xc2x0 C.
The sensor arrangement referred to at the outset for ascertaining physical properties of liquids is advantageously refined according to the invention, as defined by the characteristics of the body of the main claim.
This sensor arrangement according to the invention advantageously has a Y-rotated quartz slice and above the substrate it has a waveguide layer; the Y rotation of the quartz slice and the material of the waveguide layer are selected such that extensive temperature compensation in the range of temperature of the liquid is obtained. In the case of the wave modes mentioned at the outset for the acoustical surface wave, use can be made of the effect that the acoustic wave guidance through an acoustically slow waveguide layer located on the substrate is influenced in such a way that horizontally polarized, near-surface shear waves (SSB waves) or leaky waves. This purposefully enhances or exactly sets the measurement sensitivity to viscous, acoustoelectrical or gravimetric interactions with the ambient liquid.
A precondition for a pronounced waveguide effect is the greatest possible difference between the shear wave speeds of the substrate and the waveguide layer.
For instance with SAW components used in filter technology, so-called ST slices of xcex1 quartzes, rotated for instance by 42.75xc2x0 about the crystallographic X axis are used. On this quartz slice, with the aid of interdigital transducers known from the prior art mentioned at the outset, SSB waves can be excited along the rotated Z propagation direction. By utilizing the aforementioned effect of acoustical wave guidance through acoustically slow dielectric layers, these modes can be converted into Love modes.
The temperature coefficient of the Love mode waves in the measurement arrangement cited at the outset as prior art is approximately +30 ppm/K. Since the frequency fluctuations expected for sensor applications without temperature stabilization are on the same order of magnitude as the measurement effects, according to the invention the temperature coefficient at the working temperature of the liquid is reduced by at least one order of magnitude.
In a first advantageous embodiment, a Y-rotated quartz slice with angles of rotation between 25xc2x0 and 36xc2x0 is used as the substrate, and an SiO2 layer is used as the waveguide layer. These quartz slices with angles of rotation between 25xc2x0 and 36xc2x0 are especially suitable, because with them in conjunction with SiO2 layers of typical thickness (0.01 to 0.25 acoustical wavelengths), temperature-compensated systems with working temperatures between xe2x88x9240xc2x0 C. and +150xc2x0 C. can be produced. Furthermore, the SSB waves of these quartz slices have the high phase speeds and coupling factors that are required for Love mode sensors.
In a second embodiment, a Y-rotated quartz slice with angles of rotation between 40xc2x0 and 60xc2x0 is used as the substrate, and a layer with a negative temperature coefficient, preferably a polymer layer, is used as the waveguide layer. Waveguide layers with a negative temperature coefficient, such as polymers of PMMA, BCB, ormocers or spin-on glass, in conjunction with a Y-rotated quartz slice, lead to a parabolic temperature dependency of the resultant Love mode waves and thus to a so-called turnover temperature that is shifted in the direction of lower temperatures.
This effect can thus be utilized, as in the first embodiment, to generate a temperature-compensated system that simultaneously has good sensor properties. For each of these quartz slices, for a given wave guide material, precisely one layer thickness exists at which the resultant Love mode component has first order temperature compensation at the intended working temperature.
In a third embodiment, a Y-rotated quartz slice, especially with an angle of rotation of approximately 48xc2x0, is used as the substrate, and a layer with a virtually linear negative temperature coefficient, such as a polymer layer, is used as the waveguide layer. This quartz slice of the substrate has a quadratic temperature coefficient that tends toward zero, so that in conjunction with a layer with a linear negative temperature coefficient, given a choice of the correct layer thickness, a sensor arrangement can be produced with first and second order temperature compensation in a good approximation. Furthermore, at the layer thicknesses required for the temperature compensation, these arrangements exhibit very high sensitivities to viscous and gravimetric interactions, making them especially well suited for sensor use.
In an especially advantageous application, the sensor arrangement is used in a motor vehicle to determine the quality of the motor oil or operating liquids, and the substrate can be dipped directly into the oil to be measured.
These and other characteristics of preferred refinements of the invention are disclosed not only in the claims, including the dependent claims, but also in the description and the drawings; each of the individual characteristics can be realized alone or several can be combined in the form of subcombinations in the embodiment of the invention and realized in other fields, and can represent advantageous versions that are patentable on their own, and for these versions patent protection is claimed here: